Friday, May 31, 2013

Cooper and Penny made cards and decorated cakes at school for Mother's Day. They were both so proud of the cakes!

Penny picked a flower (with Ma-Mas' blessing of course) the day before Memorial Day.

A rare treat...on Cooper's last day of school, Penny got to play with Coop and his friends.

We celebrated the last day of school with ice cream at the "train one." (The Dairy Queen near our house has an electric train that runs all day along the ceiling. This qualifies it as the best place in town to take the kids to eat. Ask Cooper.)

Our first home wildlife sight of the summer. That's right. There were not one, but TWO snakes in our pool!

Monday, May 20, 2013

Over the weekend we spent some time with Nonnie at our current favorite part of the world: the Hill Country! On Saturday we explored the town of Boerne and on Sunday we relaxed at the lake. We feel so lucky that we have such a pleasant, relaxing place to get away to.

Monday, May 13, 2013

This year for Mother's Day weekend we were privileged to be invited to our friends' hill country ranch near Junction, Texas. I couldn't think of a better way to celebrate being a mom than by having fun and enjoying nature with my family and our friends. More than once, Penny exclaimed, "There are TWO Mamas here!" After driving five hours through rain and hail on Friday, we arrived to quickly put kids to bed so we would be fresh for the next day's adventure. We got two ATV powered ranch tours, played everywhere we could, and saw lots of wildlife. Of course, the weekend just wasn't long enough!

Mom and Coop sit atop the pila (big water tank) while Daddy climbs the windmill.

Boys in a tree!

Penny preferred to keep her two feet on the ground.

She chose instead to inspect the local flora.

Cooper had trouble falling asleep for his nap...So I got to be "fun Mom" and let him get up for a piece of cake.

Brewster enjoyed his nature walk with Mom while kids napped.

Some of the local fauna we saw included birds, deer, rabbits, wild turkeys, a fox, a mouse, and a porcupine. I had never seen a porcupine outside a zoo before, so that made my day.

The kids were fascinated by the baby mouse we accidentally uncovered.

This rabbit just went right on with his business and let me take a picture!

Ancient fauna. Mom got to feed her inner rock-nerd by doing a little fossil hunting in the caliche pit. She found many imprints and a big oyster shell.

Cooper LOVED the old truck on the property. So much so that he had to be reminded a few times to let the other kids "drive."

Back at school on Monday, Cooper told his teacher that he went to a ranch. She asked him what he saw and he said, "A dirty truck." FUNNY what they place importance on!

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Over the weekend we went to Houston to visit some friends we hadn't seen in awhile. The adults had a great time catching up while getting ready for our friends' annual crawfish boil. Cooper and Penny had kids just their ages to play with and lots of the other kids' toys to enjoy. Naturally, Cooper spent a lot of time playing with trains. He got to experience his first "sleepover", as in, we let the two boys sleep in the same room on the first night. We were surprised that we didn't hear even one peep out of them after we put them to bed.

Poor Penny started running fever on Friday night and was sick all weekend! I wish she had felt better, so she could have enjoyed the bounce house and the party on Sunday a little more. Despite how she felt, she really seemed to try and rally for the party. We got home late on Sunday night totally exhausted but it was worth it!

Cooper, at the top of the bounce house ready to do his death-defying jump.

Cooper wasn't really sure what to think of the "crawling fish" at first.